


Events That Change

by LoveAlwaysDeath



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 11:32:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13030164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoveAlwaysDeath/pseuds/LoveAlwaysDeath
Summary: Nico finds himself alone in a dark alley, and begins remembering all the reasons he ended up there. He recalls all the terrible moments in his life he had to go through and all the happy moments that got him to be who he is now.





	Events That Change

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for school, so I apologize in advance for the bad writing, I'm still in high school.. (don't judge me please)
> 
> Try to enjoy it still though!!

Nico doesn’t know how long he’s been in this alley. Days, maybe. Weeks, maybe. Months, doubtful. He knows is that after being here for so long, he can no longer feel his stomach. It doesn’t matter though, he will eat soon enough, or not. If he has enough strength to get up and find something to eat, he will. If he doesn’t, so be it. Quite a few homeless men and women had found him there, but it was obvious with his tattered clothes and expression that he didn’t have anything to give. They soon realized that he wasn’t worth their time and left him be. 

He doesn’t know much of what’s going on, but he knows how he feels. He feels broken. Absolutely broken. But now isn’t a time to dwell on it. This is what happens. There isn’t anything he can do about it, and he isn’t going to try. He isn’t even going to bother attempting to get better. It isn’t worth it. 

With a deep breath, Nico starts remembering. He tries not to, but it always comes back to the surface. 

Succumbing to his fate, Nico closes his eyes, delving into the dream world.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
“Mamma!” Nico cried, clutching his wrist to his chest, “It hurts!” 

“Shhhh baby, it’s okay. It’s just a sprain sweetheart,” Maria whispered, holding Nico close to her. 

Nico had just been playing around with Bianca, his sister, before he had tripped on a root in the ground and landed on his hand. 

“Bianca! Could you please get us an icepack? Nico sprained his wrist.” 

Bianca nodded quickly and ran into the house. 

Nico’s hand slowly started to change colour from a tan olive shade to an angry purple. 

Bianca came back running towards them with an ice pack in hand. 

“Is he okay mamma?” Bianca knelt beside Nico and spoke quickly with worry in her tone. 

“He’s doing okay sweetie, but his wrist is turning darker by the minute. Here, hand me the icepack,” Maria explained, gently gripping her son’s forearm, and placing the icepack on the affected area. 

Nico took a sharp intake of breath, the pressure unexpected and uncomfortable on his wrist. 

“Are you okay Neeks?” Bianca whispered, only loud enough for Nico to hear. 

“I’m okay Bi, it just really, really hurts,” Nico chuckled lightly without humour, a grimace on his face. 

“Come on honey, let’s go back inside, I’ll make you whatever you want.” 

Nico brightened a bit; his mother’s cooking had always been his favourite. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
A small smile spreads across Nico’s face from remembering his family. His mother had always been so compassionate and such a wonderful woman. He had never been able to imagine what it would be like without her. She had made his life so much better, so much more enjoyable. He always wanted her to be there, but since when did things go his way?  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
“No, you’re lying! It can’t be true. Those things aren’t supposed to happen, Bi,” Nico shook his head violently from side to side. 

“I’m sorry Neeks, I’m sorry,” Bianca eyes began to fill with tears. She turned her head away, wiping her face feverishly. 

“No! Please no! Say it isn’t true Bi, please say it’s not true,” Nico begged, tears streaming down his face. 

“What do you want me to say Nico?” Bianco asked, whispering, “I can’t change what’s happening.”

“Make it stop! Change it, please.”

“I can’t baby, I can’t,” Bianca wept, holding Nico close to her.

Nico pushed his face into Bianca’s sweater, with small sobs occasionally racking his frame. 

After a few moments Nico lifted his head up, wiped his face, and asked, “How much longer do we have with her?”

“Only a few months, maybe two or three.”

“Why didn’t you let me know sooner?” Nico shouted, pushing Bianca away a bit, “I deserved to know!”

“I’m so sorry. I wasn’t allowed to,” Bianca said regretfully. 

“Why not?” He demanded.

“He wouldn’t let me.”

“Who? Dad?” Nico uttered, slowly. 

“Yeah. You know who he can be. He refused to tell you. I only found out accidently when I walked into him and mom talking about it. She’s very sorry Neeks, she wasn’t allowed to tell you either.” 

“Hades. Of course it was Hades. I get that he doesn’t like me, but seriously?” Nico shouted out, his eyes in angry slits, “My mother has cancer, and he won’t even let me know? I love her more than he does!”

“I know, I know. I’m so sorry. I couldn’t tell you. I almost did a few times, but he always caught me. Mom and I finally decided that we needed to tell you, as you deserve to know. I’m so sorry Neeks.” Bianca said quietly, ashamed. 

“I don’t blame you Bi,” Nico softly whispered, before snapping, “It was his fault.” 

Bianca pulled Nico closer to her chest and said, “We’re going to visit her tomorrow at the hospital, is that okay with you?”

Nico nodded slowly, before saying, “Can we visit her every day until we can’t anymore?”

“Of course.”

“Promise?” Nico uttered weakly. 

“Promise.” 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Nico whimpers slightly in the dark, gentle tears prickling his eyes. He had had so many good memories with his mother, before she had left him for good. Angry tears also started coming forwards when he thought about the woman that his father, Hades, had chosen to replace his mother, Maria. His mother had been an amazing, loving, beautiful woman who was replaced by an evil woman, Persephone, who hadn’t even wanted kids in the first place. She just liked the idea of being called ‘mother’, or ‘mom’ and wanted to be respected.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
“Nico! Give that back to your sister!” Persephone demanded.

Nico sighed, and handed the little doll back to his sister. 

“Why can’t I play with them?” he asked. 

“It’s not normal Nico. Boys aren’t supposed to like dolls. They are meant for girls,” she said, not for the first time. 

“Just because I’m a boy doesn’t mean I can’t play with dolls! I like them,” he whispered the last part quietly, almost ashamed. 

“That is what it means Nico. Now, it is lunch time. Would you like me to make you some pasta?” Persephone snapped and changed the subject swiftly.

The children nodded while Persephone smiled at them. She then went into the kitchen to start cooking. 

“Bi?” Nico whispered after a short while. 

“Yes Neeks?” Bianca responded and glanced up at him through her thick lashes. 

“Why am I like this?” Nico asked, nervously.

“What do you mean?” she demanded, her voice a lot sharper than before.

“Why am I so different? So, girly?” Nico wondered. 

“Just because you are more stereotypically ‘feminine’ than most boys, it doesn’t mean that there is something wrong with that,” Bianca snapped. 

“Mom seems to think that there is something wrong with it,” he fidgeted slightly, starting to get uncomfortable. 

“It doesn’t matter what Persephone thinks. And do not call her mom, she is not your mother. You know this Nico,” she said gently.

“I know she isn’t, Bi. That is what she told me to call her though, I don’t want to make her mad. She always yells when she’s mad, it’s too loud. When she starts yelling, she doesn’t stop.” 

They started to whisper now, both worried that Persephone will overhear them from the kitchen. 

“I know Niccolò, but what can we do? It is who dad chose to replace mom.” Bianca whispered sadly. 

“I miss her, you know. She was the best mom Bi. I loved her so much,” Nico’s eyes started to get wet, tears dripping down his cheeks. 

“I know sweetie, I know.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Nico sits up angrily, wiping his tears and balling his hands into fists. 

Nico doesn’t regret much, but he will always regret not standing up for himself in front of Persephone, no matter how many times she has ridiculed him and yelled at him for his choice of clothing, decisions he has made for himself that don’t even include her, and for some reason, his sexuality. He has never been the most ‘manly’ boy, and has always been quite feminine, but it wasn’t until his teens that he started to realize he looks at guys the same way that most guys look at girls. Persephone had always been very mad at him for his sexuality, as if she thinks that it’s his fault that it is this way. Hades, his father, had always been disappointed in him, which hadn’t surprised Nico. He didn’t like him for the same reasons that Persephone hadn’t liked him. Bianca had always been very approving and helpful, never showing any kind of disappointment or resentment towards him. She had always been the best sister, and he didn’t know what he would’ve done without her. 

That is, until he did know.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
“‘Kay! See you later Bi! Love you!” Nico shouted, waving. 

“Love you too Neeks!” Bianca responded and waved back. 

Bianca stepped out onto the street, not looking and continued to wave at her brother. 

“Wait! No, Bianca, MOVE!” Nico screamed at her, a second too late.

Bianca’s face turns to a frown, looking to the right of her and seeing a large truck before it slams into her, sending her flying forwards. 

Nico runs to where she is lying, chanting her name repeatedly, trying to wake her up. 

“Bi, bi, please, wake up, I need you, come back to me!” he shouts, desperately feeling for a pulse. He feels around to hear that slight pumping of the heart, hoping to feel something, anything. His head falls onto her chest, right over her heart, but hears nothing. Nico yells at the top of his lungs, cursing himself, everyone, everything. Tears cloud his vision and he continues sobbing until he has no tears left, with his head laying on his now diseased sister’s body. 

He vaguely heard sirens in the background, and he’s pretty sure that there is someone yelling at him. He still doesn’t move though. 

What’s the point, he wonders? Now both his mother and sister are gone. Why did the two people he loved the most go away? Maybe he’s cursed. Maybe whoever he loves will be taken away from him. 

He wakes up a few hours later without remembering that he had fallen asleep, in a large, white corridor. He sits up, rubbing his eyes and closing them for a few moments. 

Nico takes a deep breath, forcing himself to not start freaking out too much about things that he would never be able to alter. 

His sister was gone. First his mother, and now his sister. 

He opened his eyes slowly, startling backwards when he sees that his father is crouched down in front of him, his eyes in angry slits. 

“Hades? What’s going on? Is Bianca...?” 

His father ignores him. 

“It should’ve been you. She was the only child I loved. You are a disgrace to this family.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Nico remembered the last time that he had spoken to his father and Persephone, the dreadful day when he decided to run away. He had had enough.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
“Nico, where are you going, dinner starts in 10 minutes!” Hades voice boomed from across the property, Persephone standing beside him. 

Nico just ignored them and rolled his suitcase farther away from the mansion. 

“Get back here!” He screamed. 

Nico calmly turned around, saying, “I have had enough of both of you. My sister and mother are gone, which you barely have said anything about, and we haven’t even had a funeral for either of them yet. You don’t even want me here, father,” he spat out, sarcastically, “So stop pretending that you do, you’re not fooling anyone.” 

“How dare you?” Persephone screamed, her shrill voice cutting through the air like a blade, “We have sacrificed so much for you! You have been nothing but an absolute pain and an ungrateful little brat!”

Nico just continued walking and completely ignored the two voices behind him. 

“Where are you going to go anyway? No one wants you!” Persephone yelled, laughing, “Your father and I could barely stand you! Who do you think is going to want to deal with you and your tact? You disrespected us for so long Nico, good luck finding someone who will treat you as good as well did.”

“You know, Persephone, for the longest time I was afraid of you. However, after all these years of dealing with you and your husband’s crap, I’m not anymore. What is there to fear? You guys have no hold over me anymore,” Nico chuckled without humour and said, “I don’t care where I end up. Anywhere is better than here. I could be living on the streets with absolutely nothing, but I would still be happier than staying with you guys.”  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Nico punched the wall beside him, feeling the familiar pain when his knuckles when the hit the surface. This was something he was familiar with. He could deal with physical pain; it wasn’t that bad anymore. After all those years, it had been dulled. Emotional pain, however, he couldn’t. Not after all those years of traumatic experiences and events happening to him. There was only so much that he could take, and any more and he would snap. 

Well Nico thought bitterly, at least there wasn’t anything left to be taken away from him, since there isn’t anyone he still loved who was alive.


End file.
